Syria: US special forces injured five Syrian border guards in an attack on a convoy driving near the Syrian border with Iraq on Wednesday, US officials said yesterday, writes Conor O'Clery in New York
The Pentagon has been remarkably tight-lipped about the incident, but in a version given by officials on conditions of anonymity, it appears that US forces believed the convoy might contain senior members of the former Iraqi regime, possibly even Saddam Hussein.
The attack was carried out by a highly-secretive special forces unit known as Task Force 20. It occurred on Wednesday night after some six vehicles left a compound in the city of Qaim.
There was "at least a hope" that Saddam Hussein was in the convoy, but officials said they had as yet no indication that it contained the former Iraqi president or his sons Qusay and Uday. The US forces called in a Predator drone (a pilot-less aircraft) armed with Hellfire missiles, and an AC 130 gun ship with a 150mm cannon, to destroy the convoy.
It was not clear if the vehicles were attacked as they crossed the border, or if there was an exchange of fire, but five border guards were injured, three seriously. They were reportedly taken by US forces for medical attention.
Twenty people were detained but most had been let go.
The anonymous officials said that DNA tests may be conducted on the remains of those killed. "There's no conclusive evidence as to who was in there. And then, of course, you would need DNA evidence to actually identify anyone," one defence official told Reuters.
Last week the US captured a former top Iraqi official, Abid Hamid Mahmoud al-Tikriti, who had served as Saddam's secretary, leading to speculation that the noose was tightening around the former Iraqi dictator, who has not been seen since the fall of Baghdad.
The US has tried twice previously to kill the former Iraqi president, with air strikes against two locations in the Baghdad area on March 20th and April 7th.
The captured official reportedly said Saddam Hussein and his two sons survived the first two raids.
The attack near Syria was first reported on Sunday by the Observer newspaper in London, which said it was an attempt to kill Saddam and that American specialists were conducting DNA tests on human remains recovered last week.
Guardian Service adds:Downing Street yesterday cut its losses in the running battle with MPs over the Iraq intelligence controversy and reversed its refusal to allow Mr Alastair Campbell, Mr Tony Blair's communications director, to give evidence to a select committee investigating the affair. He will appear tomorrow.
The British Prime Minister and the Foreign Secretary, Mr Jack Straw, performed what Tory MPs dubbed a climbdown after weekend reports repeated claims suggesting a link between the government's "dodgy dossier" on Iraq's weapons of mass destruction and Mr Campbell.
The dossier, published in February, contained data later found to have been taken from a PhD thesis about Iraq on the Internet.
On Sunday it was attributed, not for the first time, to four officials, three of whom work for Mr Campbell.
That claim has frequently been denied, prompting scepticism among reporters when it was cited as an important "factual inaccuracy" yesterday.
But No 10 insisted Mr Campbell had been eager to "rebut serious allegations" in public, amid growing signs that the Tory tabloids have decided that they want the scalp of the former Daily Mirror journalist.
Mr Blair will be keen to prevent that, and it took a weekend discussion involving himself, Mr Straw and the cabinet secretary, Sir Andrew Turnbull, to execute the U-turn. Mr Straw will answer the committee's questions on policy, starting today.